Unexpected
by SaphireOwl
Summary: The war is over and everybody has changed. Everyone who was couldnt have their 7th year is back. Hermione and Draco have both been made Heads. Hermione is still the bookworm know-it-all, and Draco is still a prat, but not to Hermione. He has a secret.
1. Chapter 1

Unexpected

**1**

Walking through the barriers between 9 and 10 felt like a dream come true for Hermione Granger. She never thought she'd be riding the Hogwarts Express again. The war had ended and peace was restored to the Wizarding World. She took a breath of what seemed like new air. Hermione turned to her parents and hugged them tightly. She was so happy to be able to take off the spell she had put on them. They now knew they had a daughter, and just had a memory of going out of the country for vacation. Hermione thought it'd be better if she didn't worry them with the details. She told them she loved them and hugged them goodbye one last time before she boarded the Hogwarts Express for her seventh year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Hermione pulled her trunk along as she looked for the compartment of her two best friends. Harry had been living with the Weasleys until the summer was over, he planned to find a flat of his own after this year's term ended. Ron was planning on the same thing, but maybe not as fast. He was enjoying living with his family in peace, even if they had lost a few loved ones. They all sometimes helped with the joke shop. They would not let it go out of business, they knew Fred wouldn't have wanted that. Hermione sighed as she thought about Ron, she had really hoped it'd work out. She had thought she'd been in love with him since fourth year, but it hadn't worked out how she hoped it would.

Putting a smile back on her face Hermione opened the compartment where Harry, Ginny, Ron, Neville, and Luna were all sitting. "Hello!" She exclaimed excitingly as she was tackled by a long red head in a hug. Laughing Hermione said, "good to see you too, Ginny!"

Ginny broke her embrace and smiled brightly at her. "I've missed you, we all have."

"I know." Muttered Hermione, "I just wanted to spend the summer with my parents seeing as I haven't seen them in such a long time."

They all nodded their heads understandingly. Harry stood up and gave Hermione a hug, as well as Luna and Neville. Ron stood up, but hesitated just a bit before hugging her in an awkard side-ways hug. Hermione almost giggled but hugged him back. Looking at her watch, which Hermione had charmed to run off magic so it would work at Hogwarts, Hermione gasped. "Well, I better be off to the Head's Compartment. Sorry I can't sit with you! Ron, I'll be meeting with you and the other Prefects in an hour in the Head's Compartment, okay?" Ron nodded silently and Hermione grinned at him and waved too all her friends as she exited the compartment and made her way down the train.

Now, Hermione did used to be a lanky, awkward-looking, bushy haired nerdy girl. Well, she still was a bookworm know-it-all, but she had filled out her looks quite well over time. Her hair was now tame and lay in soft brown waves down past her shoulders. Her teeth, that used to be a bit oversized to her face, now fit in well. Her figure was petite and curvy. A lot of people were shocked that hadn't seen her in a while, but the people she were always with barely noticed the changes. It upset her a little bit, but she wasn't to worried about it.

Hermione anxiously made her way to the Head's Compartment, she couldn't wait to see who had been made Head Boy. She figured it was a Ravenclaw, that was the most obvious choice. She slowly slid open the door and sucked in a breath. When she looked up at the blonde haired, pointed nose boy sitting in the compartment she gasped aloud. What was McGonnagol thinking?

.

Draco Malfoy had changed. He sensed it in himself, but refused to acknowledge it. He loathed himself for changing... for feeling the _need to change_. The war was over and he had been invited back to his final year in Hogwarts with the rest of his year. He was still in shock that he, and majority of the Slytherin's who had fought alongside the Dark Lord, had been forgiven, much less welcomed back to school.

Glancing out of the window, Draco caught a glimpse of his parents. Narcissa Malfoy stood a little ways behind her husband, Lucius Malfoy. Both were half concealed as they looked to their only son behind a pillar. Draco winced as he spotted several families walking by, noticed them giving his parents disgusted and suspicious looks. His mother made eye contact with him briefly and in that short moment, he saw the hurt and guilt in her eyes, even as she struggled to conceal it. His father, on the other hand, looked as if he didn't care, much less see the people around him. He may look like he didn't care, but Draco could tell from his father's stiff stance that it took all that he could not to leave. Lucius Malfoy had changed as well, and as Draco caught his fathers attention, Lucius gave his son a sad smile that had faded as quickly as it came.

Draco gave a slight nod; a small inclination that he was alright and that they could leave. And with a small air kiss from his mother, and a slight nod from his father, they apparated.

Sighing inwardly he got up and stretched. He was amazed at how he grew. He was still tall and a bit lanky, but with a more defined build; His shoulders were broad and his muscles toned; His skin had also gone from pale alabaster, to a light tan. The change that always caught him by surprise though, was the depth of maturity he could see in his eyes. Overall, he thought he looked pretty dam.n good.

Reaching up to his luggage, he pulled out a picture of a mousy girl turned Cinderella. He sat back down, a smile tugging at his lips, as he surveyed the laughing girl. He had ripped the bloke Krum from the other half of the photo, but couldn't get rid of the gits arm casually thrown around the girl's shoulders.

Draco leaned into the chair and closed his eyes, resting his head against the wall. He began to tuck the picture into the pocket in his robes when something stabbed him. Cursing slightly, he pulled out the badge responsible and groaned. ' _Head Boy _' was scrawled on it, along with the Hogwarts coat of arms. He still could not grasp what that hag-_Headmistress_ McGonnagal was thinking. What good would it do to make _him_ Head Boy?

He was just about to shove the badge back into the same pocket he had placed the picture, when the door to the compartment opened.

Draco Malfoy had changed, and he had a sickening feeling it was due to, and for, the girl standing before him.

"Hey Hermione," he chocked out, "How are you?" 


	2. Chapter 2

**2**

Hermione Granger had to stop to catch her breath when she came face to face with Draco Malfoy in the Head's Compartment. She was in complete shock. This meant they would be living together for goodness sake! Hermione opened her mouth to say something, but choked on her words. She straightened up and put her hand over her mouth and coughed to cover up her obvious failure in attempting to speak. She tucked a brown lock of hair behind her ear and stared straight at Draco. He looked so different than what she remembered, the ending of the war must've really changed him , at least in his appearance, and she hoped in his personality as well. He had broader muscles, toned skin, and without the permanent scowl he usually had on his face he looked surprisingly handsome.

"Hello, Ma- Draco." Hermione stuttered. She had almost called him Malfoy, but for some reason she stopped at the last second and called him by his first name instead. She didn't know if it was because he had called her Hermione instead of Granger, or some other reason. She was very curious as to why he was being so nice to her. She almost scowled and walked away at the thought of sharing anything with him when remembering everything he had put her through the past seven years. Then she looked in his eyes and saw he had truely changed, and she also reminded herself Voldemort was gone and he wasn't sided with him anymore. He looked as though he matured, and everyone deserved a second chance. Trying to smile Hermione spoke, "quite excited actually, can't wait to start Hogwarts back!" As she spoke, Hermione's excitement almost overcame her weariness of Draco. "What about you?" She asked as she walked over the luggage rack and levitated it up on the rack and took a seat across from Draco. Being seventeen had it's advantages with magic.

Hermione had decided to give Draco a chance, of course, but she didn't let her guard drop. She didn't know what to think of him at the moment. She knew Ron wouldn't approve of her being nice to Malfoy, but this was none of Ron's business. She grinned at him and casually crossed her right leg over her knee.

Hermione spotted a stack of papers beside Draco with **Dutes of Head Boy and Head Girl**written in bold, underlined letters on the very top. "Have you already read through this?" She asked as she reached her arm over and grabbed the papers. Hermione skimmed through everything, paying more attention to the main things than the unimportant stuff. Her wavy brown hair fell over her left shoulder and his her left side of her face from view, as it usually did when she was intently reading or writing something.

The dutes were rather simple. Explain the new rules to the returning Prefects, and go over the old rules for the new Prefects. Make sure they enforce the rules, organize patrol schedules, and schedule Hogsmeade weekends. The benefits were as followed; Heads get an hour later curfew, and they share a whole dormitory to theirselves. The dorm included a bedroom to each of them, their own bathrooms, and a small Common Room with a fireplace with rows of bookshelves. The very last thing on the Benefits page was explaining that Heads had patrol every night together. Hermione sighed and put the papers back down. "I can't wait to see the dorm!" She exclaimed. She was mostly excited about the bookshelves. It would be like a whole library to herself! Oh, she really couldn't wait.

...

"Uh, yeah," Draco replied nervously. He wasn't sure which of the questions he was responding to; she had asked quite a few. Well she hadn't actually asked that many but... did she ask any questions? He tried to clear his head, but failed miserably.

How did she expect him to keep up? What with her beautiful smile and gorgeous features, not to mention her almost musical voice, distracting him... preoccupying his mind. She had changed quite a bit since the last time they met, he noticed only too easily. '_She really filled out_' he thought vaguely, '_her-_'

'_Draco!_' he mentally reprimanded, '_Get a hold of yourself, you bloody git!_' And then dread set in as he recalled what he had said earlier. He had called her by her first name. _He had called her by her_ **first name**. Something he had always wanted to do, but had never dared to actually do it. He had called her _Hermione_. He hadn't even said it with any dislike or strain. Merlin knows he always forced it... ever since their fourth year.

"Mmm-hmm" Draco murmured, hoping that she wouldn't think he was ignoring her, "me too." His eyes unwillingly followed her as she moved to the luggage rack, then flew to the window as she came to sit across from him. He forced himself to stay calm, but didn't notice his lips slightly turning down into a scowl. The scowl deepened as Hermione innocently reached for a copy of the Duties of Head Boy and Head Girl manual, and began reading intently.

Scowl still in place, Draco watched as Hermione's silky hair slid over her shoulder and gracefully cascaded over the left side of her face; covering it from his view. His hand unconsciously reached out to tuck her hair behind her ear, but he caught himself before he could follow through. But Merlin's Beard! How he wanted to do so.

Head full of distraught, Draco leaned back into the chair and glared out the window. He ran his hand through his own hair and leaned back in his seat.

"So Granger," he said, reluctantly switching back to calling her formally, "What did you do over the summer?" He prayed that he sounded casual and was slightly stressed that she wasn't affected by him as he was affected so deeply by her. "You probably spent it with _Potter_ and your boyfriend" -he half chocked on the word, "_Weasel-bee_ no doubt." 

...

As Hermione listened she noticed Draco's platinum hair had gotten longer and stood out nicely against his toned skin. Tilting her head, she looked into his grey eyes. They were usually very cold and cruel, but it seemed without the usual coldness in them it changed almost his whole appearance. He really was a very handosme boy, she wondered why Pansy Parkinson had always chased after him. Now she realized why, Draco probably didn't look at _Pansy_ as if he wanted to kill her. So of course he looked handsome to Pansy.

Looking down from his eyes, Hermione saw a scowl on Draco's lips, and as this she did flinch. She watched as his gaze switched from her to the window and she turned her gaze to her feet. Hermione actually giggled when she heard Draco call Ron, _Weasel-bee_. "Weasel-bee, that's new." Hermione giggled, "but no, I spent it with my family. I actually haven't seen Harry and Ron since the beginning of the summer." She said with a nod. "Oh, and Ron isn't my boyfriend." She told him slowly, "it was just too weird dating my bestfriend."

Hermione was really surprised at how not-heartbroken she was about Ron. She had thought she was in love with him since fourth year, but once they tried it out it just didn't work. Her thought were always _'if you were meant to be with someone, you would be with them without any weirdness'_, and there was weirdness so she knew it wasn't meant to be. 

...

He did not envy the git, _Weasley_, a bit... Except for his relationship with Hermione. Just the thought of her smiling at him; their eyes filled with adoration towards each other, made Draco feel like hexing the clumsy red-headed prat into oblivion.

A smirk graced his lips as he thought of all the things he would like to do to Weasley, but his smirk quickly faded and turned grim as Hermione spoke. '_Hurting the little weasel Weasley would hurt her too._' He glanced from the window, to her beautiful angelic face, then back to the window. '_I'd never do anything to hurt her... Never again._' And even as he thought this, his jealousy still clung to him.

Draco's ears unintentionally picked up what Hermione was saying, even as he struggled to control his outbreak of **jealousy** and keep it in check.

His face cleared, and his mouth turned to form a lazy lopsided smile, as he heard Hermione say that she spent her summer with her parents. He had heard what she had done in order to keep them safe from harms way and was floored by her strong love and bravery. Draco could not imagine how it must have been for her. She truly was an amazing woman.

Draco's lazy smile unconsciously transformed into a full grin, as Hermione continued on to tell him that she and _Weasel-bee_ no longer had a thing.

Letting out a breath of relief, Draco turned to give Hermione a triumphant and winning smile. Slightly nodding, he leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees.

"That's true. It does feel weird dating a friend, doesn't it?"

Noting the questioning look Hermione was giving, he continued.

"I was just thinking about Pansy and I," not noticing the small wince the mention of Pansy caused Hermione, Draco went on. "I mean, we _were_ pretty good friends, but she just didn't make me _feel_ anything special."

His head tilted to the right, and he scrunched up his eyebrows thinking. "She also wasn't very bright," he added with a rueful chuckle. "Never thought anything of her own, always following what other people say."

Draco's gaze made it's way to meet Hermione's, his face set in a playful tone, but his eyes were full of intensity.

"She was _nothing_ like you..."

He sat back and softly added, "Weasley was _lucky_ to have gone out with you."

...

Hermione avoided looking Draco in the eyes as he talked about Pansy. If she would just look at his eyes, maybe Hermione would've noticed there was no twinkle in his eyes as he talked about Pansy. Her ears did perk up, however, when she heard him _talk_ about Pansy. "Yes," Hermione said slowly, "it's weird to date friends, just doesn't feel right." Hermione agreed with him.

The frown that had formed on Hermione's lips when Draco was talking about Pansy, quickly changed into a shy smile as she heard him talk about _her_. Hermione almost gasped with suprise when Draco told her Ron was lucky to have been with her. Her cheeks turned a rosy shade of pink, she she brought her hands up over her slightly open mouth quickly.

Not knowing what to say, Hermione covered her slight gasp with a small cough and averted her gaze to anywhere except Draco. As she thought of the words to come out of her mouth, she fidgetted with a loose string hanging off the seats of the train. "Oh-Uhm, no I do-don't think it was anything special." Hermione stuttered as she took a breath to calm herself.

After she had taken a few more deep breaths to calm herself, she decided to stop before she made herself light headed. Hermione dared to look into Draco's eyes, after all his voice didn't sound very serious, but once her eyes met his and she saw the intensity in his eyes she knew he was telling the truth.

Hermione gave herself a mental shake, and she stared Draco straight in the eye. There was no reason for her to be stuttering like a silly school girl. She was a Gryffindor who helped defeat Voldemort dammit! There was no reason she should be nervous talking to _Draco Malfoy_, of all people.

The honey brown eyes lingered on the intense gray ones, trying to solve the puzzle that was hidden beneath them. This puzzle was a very difficult one, seeing as it always seemed to change. For seven years they had been easy to de-cipher, they were cold and cruel, but within the past few hours they've changed from confused, to soft and caring, to intense and serious.

"**At the time**, you and Pansy seemed so," Hermione tilted her head, still staring at him as she thought of the right word. "So, similiar," and at the time they did, but now she saw no trace of that Draco. She had a weird feeling in the pit of her stomach about his new Draco Malfoy, but she hadn't decided if she should be worried or relieved. Hermione decided she would just have to study Draco Malfoy more closely over time. 


	3. Chapter 3

**3**

Draco noted that Hermione had stuttered when trying to talk to him, she had actually stuttered. This brought a small smirk onto his face. How many people could say that they made _Hermione Granger _stutter? She was probably _the _smartest which he had ever met, and he knew she wasn't easy to make baffle. "Well, yes I suppose at the time we were similar." He agreed with a nod as he tilted his head in his hands. Draco caught the intensity in Hermione's eyes as she stared him in the eye, as if to solve a riddle. He stared right back into hers, but not to try and solve anything. For a moment he actually got lost in those honey brown eyes, they told such a story. They were round, light, and playful. At the same time, though, they were hard, serious, and old. He knew she had been through so much and seen so many things that her eyes would have had to look different, and little did he know his had that same look.

The moment Draco's gaze dropped from her eyes it fell to her lips, her full red lips. It took him a moment to realize they were moving and words were coming out of them. He gave himself a mental shake and let his mind register to what it was she was saying.

"The Prefects will be here any moment, you do know all the rules I hope?"

"Yes, Granger, I have read through this ridiculously thick packet." Draco responded with a slight smirk. Of course, she would ask something like that. He was Head Boy after all, obviously Hermione still had her doubts.

As if on cue eight people walked through the door(two from each house), and if the Head's Compartment wasn't magically enchanted it definitely would have been a tight squeeze. When Draco saw the familiar redhead, Weasley, his slight smile turned into a full scowl. Of course, Ron didn't seem to happy to see Draco in the compartment with them either.

"What the bloody hell do you think your doing here, Malfoy, your not a prefect!" Ron scowled with a look of pure disgust.

"Well, if you must know, Weasley, I just happen to be your boss." Draco informed him with a smirk on his face that dared Weasley to say something else, and of course he did as always.

"McGonnagols gone mad she has!" Ron all but yelled.

"Ronald Weasley, do not talk about the headmistress like that!" Hermione scowled him and pointed to a seat, "now sit down so we can get started, will you?" Ron's face had a look of shock, but he obeyed her. He still wasn't happy though, you could tell by the way he glared at Draco the whole time, who had a smug look on his face, "and you, Malfoy, would you please not act superior, I know your used to it but things have changed and you will not speak to the prefects like that!"

Draco's eyes widened in surprise, but of course all of the prefects were in the compartment with them and he should have known she would let being Head Girl go to her head, but honestly he didn't mind it at all. His face turned to a scowl, but that was merely out of habit. Hermione stood up, and Draco copied her. He shoved his hands in his pockets and looked around at everyone. The looks that people gave him were almost enough to make him flinch. The Slytherin prefects looked up at him with envy mixed with admiration, the Hufflepuff looked scared as did Ravenclaw, but the two Gryffindors looked at him with nothing but hatred in their eyes. Thankfully, he didn't have to start talking.

"Hello everyone," Hermione greeted them, "welcome back to Hogwarts, and let me be one to say I am over joyed to be here. Voldemort is gone and not coming back, so this year we might actually have a peaceful year here at Hogwarts." Hermione paused for a moment with a wide smile on her face and beamed when everyone(even the Slytherins) cheered. "Yes, well we do need to go over some things." Hermione went over all the basics. Who was to escort the first years to the common room, what time the curfews was, and all that fun stuff. "Are there any questions?"

A Hufflepuff raised their hand and Hermione nodded at him to continue, "do prefects have any special privileges?"

Hermione bit her lip and thought for a moment, "well not exactly. You get to stay out a little bit later with whoever we(she pointed to herself and Draco) assign you to patrol with, but that is only to patrol with. If we find out you were doing anything else there will be consequences."

Draco stared at Hermione the entire time, he had opened his mouth a few times to add something because he felt he needed to as Head Boy, but every time he opened his mouth Hermione kept on talking. He didn't mind this, though, it was a little amusing actually. He just shoved his hands in his pockets and let her deal with everything. When she mentioned something about patrolling the halls this brightened up his face, remembering he got to patrol the halls every night with Hermione. Being Head Boy did have its advantages apparently.

Checking his watch, Draco realized it was a mere fifteen minutes before they arrived at Hogwarts, he informed Hermione of this and they dismissed the prefects. He grabbed his robes and stepped out of the compartment for Hermione to change and he walked to the loo and changed in there. Hermione noted this was very gentleman like of him.

Finally, they had arrived at Hogwarts. A place that felt like home to all of them.


End file.
